Not quite a love-in thread, but........
Dec 11th 2013, 4:36 pm
#1
BE Co-Founder
Thread Starter
Joined: Feb 2000
Location: Florida
Posts: 25,928
Not quite a love-in thread, but........
Couldn't have said it better myself ...... and I felt it was worth posting it in here too, as some of what Pollyana is referring to I've seen here.
Tis the season and all that ......
Tis the season and all that ......
Morning/afternoon/evening all!
This isn't a 'Mods being heavy' post, its a little appeal to a large number of posters in a few forums across BE, with the aim of bringing the idea of a 'season of goodwill' back to this little haven that we use to escape from reality Please try and inwardly digest the thoughts herein, which are being posted by me, but which actually incorporate the wishes of many of the Concierges, Mods and Admin.
==================================
It seems that every so often parts of BE flare up into arguments, unsavoury comments, hurtful personal remarks and it could even be said to be verging on bullying in places. This is not pleasant and is totally unhelpful to people, whatever their situation.
It seems that every so often parts of BE flare up into arguments, unsavoury comments, hurtful personal remarks and it could even be said to be verging on bullying in places. This is not pleasant and is totally unhelpful to people, whatever their situation. For some strange reason, which I haven't yet worked out, most of the arguments seem to be centred around Australia vs the UK - far more than Canada, the USA, Spain etc etc.
Now, there's nothing wrong with the occasional bagging of the UK, or of Australia, most of us do it at times as no country is perfect and I defy any poster on here to say that they love everything in their new land, and nothing in the old one, or vice versa. That's just unrealistic, lets's face it
nowhere is perfect 
And in order to keep the forums realistic we all need to have the chance to let off steam, criticise our new - and old - countries - and occasionally laugh at ourselves and each other for doing so. But BE is a support network, that laughter should not be cruel, that laughter should be sympathetic and should help us all to see our way forward by getting things into perspective.
I'm not suggesting the place becomes one big love-in as that isn't realistic either, but lets try and get some humour back into our cyber-world
Lets try and put ourselves in each other's shoes for a while, encourage each other to see things from each other's point of view, and above all if we are going to compare countries, let's try and do it with a more light-hearted approach and less of the 'trying to pick a fight' attitude 
As my esteemed boss puts it, BE isn't just about soaking up useful info before we move aboard, but a way for us to connect with each other afterwards. To involve ourselves in the banter and humour that makes us all British and that many of us do not get to do during our normal days with the local populace. So allowing people some space to let off a bit of steam is important, as long as they aren't being mean spirited while doing so. It's all about place and context really, and BE can be that place as long as we all respect each other's opinions.
This isn't a 'Mods being heavy' post, its a little appeal to a large number of posters in a few forums across BE, with the aim of bringing the idea of a 'season of goodwill' back to this little haven that we use to escape from reality
Please try and inwardly digest the thoughts herein, which are being posted by me, but which actually incorporate the wishes of many of the Concierges, Mods and Admin.==================================
It seems that every so often parts of BE flare up into arguments, unsavoury comments, hurtful personal remarks and it could even be said to be verging on bullying in places. This is not pleasant and is totally unhelpful to people, whatever their situation.
It seems that every so often parts of BE flare up into arguments, unsavoury comments, hurtful personal remarks and it could even be said to be verging on bullying in places. This is not pleasant and is totally unhelpful to people, whatever their situation. For some strange reason, which I haven't yet worked out, most of the arguments seem to be centred around Australia vs the UK - far more than Canada, the USA, Spain etc etc.
Now, there's nothing wrong with the occasional bagging of the UK, or of Australia, most of us do it at times as no country is perfect and I defy any poster on here to say that they love everything in their new land, and nothing in the old one, or vice versa. That's just unrealistic, lets's face it
nowhere is perfect And in order to keep the forums realistic we all need to have the chance to let off steam, criticise our new - and old - countries - and occasionally laugh at ourselves and each other for doing so. But BE is a support network, that laughter should not be cruel, that laughter should be sympathetic and should help us all to see our way forward by getting things into perspective.
I'm not suggesting the place becomes one big love-in as that isn't realistic either, but lets try and get some humour back into our cyber-world
Lets try and put ourselves in each other's shoes for a while, encourage each other to see things from each other's point of view, and above all if we are going to compare countries, let's try and do it with a more light-hearted approach and less of the 'trying to pick a fight' attitude As my esteemed boss puts it, BE isn't just about soaking up useful info before we move aboard, but a way for us to connect with each other afterwards. To involve ourselves in the banter and humour that makes us all British and that many of us do not get to do during our normal days with the local populace. So allowing people some space to let off a bit of steam is important, as long as they aren't being mean spirited while doing so. It's all about place and context really, and BE can be that place as long as we all respect each other's opinions.
